Students imitating piglets at 2016 Ag and Environmental Awareness Day.

Participants learn about invasive species at 2016 Ag and Environmental Awareness Day.

Some 500 elementary students and their teachers and chaperones will meet at UH Mānoa’s 30-acre O‘ahu Urban Garden Center in Pearl City on Friday, February 10, when the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources' O‘ahu Cooperative Extension Office and Office of Academic and Student Affairs host the 2017 O‘ahu Agriculture and Environmental Awareness Day.

The Center will be open to the public for its own Second Saturday event on Saturday, February 11.

The many crowd-pleasing ag- and environment-themed interactive exhibits and presentations will include 100% Hawaiian Chocolate made by CTAHR’s Department of Tropical Plant and Soil Sciences and information about the O‘ahu Master Gardeners program. There will be exhibits on tropical and subtropical fruits and on pigs, cows and chickens. The UH Honeybee Project will show how honey is extracted from the comb, and other CTAHR groups and departments will offer educational and fun exhibits. The O‘ahu 4-H youth group will also be accepting new members.

State agencies and community partners include the Hawaii Cattlemen’s Association; the Hawaii Nature Center, which will demonstrate the importance of wetlands; and the Board of Water Supply, which will discuss growing edible drought-resistant landscapes. There will also be the Hawaii Department of Agriculture’s Plant Quarantine Branch, Oahu Invasive Species Committee, and much more.

The Awareness Day serves a double purpose: to create a greater awareness and understanding of agriculture and the environment in the community and to introduce students to career opportunities in agriculture and environmental studies on O‘ahu and throughout the state.

Students and teachers from 8 schools — Kahala Elementary, Liholiho Elementary, Hawaii School for the Deaf and the Blind, Hahaione Elementary, Lunalilo Elementary, Hokulani Elementary, Kuhio Elementary and Ala Wai Elementary — will attend this annual event on Friday, February 10. The following day, Saturday, February 11, will feature the Urban Garden Center’s annual plant and rose sale with the Honolulu Rose Society, as well as many of the same attractions and educational activities for the general public. Students who return from the previous day with their parents will receive a prize.

WHAT: O‘ahu Agriculture and Environmental Awareness Day

WHO: UH Mānoa College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources

O‘ahu Cooperative Extension Office

Academic and Student Affairs Office

Students and teachers invited

WHEN: Friday, February 10, 2017 (schools)

8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

Estimated peak activity: 10:00 a.m.

Media invited to cover the event

Saturday, February 11, 2017 (general public)

8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

All are invited to attend

WHERE: UH Mānoa’s O‘ahu Urban Garden Center

955 Kamehameha Highway, Pearl City, Hawai‘i 96782

View photos from the 2016 event (which took place at the CTAHR Waimanalo Research Station) here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ctahr/albums/72157663259432063/